The Cairo Punch: The English Councillors (Sir Eldon Gorst and the ministers)
A colour cartoon from the trilingual Cairo Punch shows Sir Eldon Gorst, the British Consul-General, reclining in a deckchair with strings tied to his fingers that work six marionette ministers in tarbooshes. The puppet image is the loaded label: it brands the whole Egyptian cabinet as toys operated by one man, and the caption has Gorst say so himself.
- Date
- 1908
- Period
- Pre-1914
- Made by
- The Cairo Punch (al-Siyasa al-Musawwara), Cairo; artist and editor A. H. Zaki
- Region
- Middle East and North Africa
- Country
- Egypt
- Medium
- Cartoon
- Issuer type
- Media
- Regime
- Khedivate of Egypt
- Leader
- Abbas II
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Persuade or win support
- Themes
- Empire and colonialism, Elections and party politics
- Techniques
- Name-calling
- Source
- Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
- Source
- Library of Congress, retrieved September 29, 2026
- Rights
- Public domain (published in Egypt 1908-1911, before 1931)
A. H. Zaki, The Cairo Punch, Cairo, c. 1908-1911; Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, LC-USZ62-94600
Text on the object
The Cairo Punch [Arabic masthead at upper right, calligraphic; reading uncertain: السياسة المصورة] [Sash on the deckchair:] SIR GORST [Label on the boxes at the foot:] THE ENGLISH COUNCILLORS [Arabic equivalent, partly illegible] Sir Eldon Gorst: — "The toys dance well, but they need somebody to make them move. The manufacturer said, they could dance by themselves and without wires according to the Marconi System — if one wishes — Moreover I was shown the trade-mark of "Lord—", which proves them to be excellent toys for the New Year." The Toys: — "Do not trouble to pull; we will dance alone, to any movement you require without any effort on your part, his 'Lordship' has forgotten the same." [Arabic version of the caption, left-hand column: illegible at available resolution] [French version of the caption, right-hand column: "Sir Gorst — "Ils dansent bien ..." partly legible; not transcribed]
The Cairo Punch [Arabic masthead: 'Politics Illustrated', reading uncertain] [Sash:] SIR GORST [Label:] THE ENGLISH COUNCILLORS The English caption is already in English; the Arabic and French versions of it are not transcribed.
English column read from an enlarged 640 px image; the words after 'Lord' and the last clause of the Toys' reply are the least certain. The Arabic and French columns repeat the English caption and are illegible at this resolution.
